


Consequences of Sins Unpaid

by lol_itsgeli (c_heels)



Category: Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: Don't Kill Me, I honestly only have half an idea where I'm taking this, I love Keith but this was how I imagined the plot, Might add more pairings, Multi, UNFINISHED and MULTICHAPTERED, Veronica is a Kane, but LoVe is the main one, the Major Character Death is Keith, the rape/non-con is only referenced
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-08 22:28:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11091234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c_heels/pseuds/lol_itsgeli
Summary: Orphaned at 16, Veronica Mars - or should that be Kane? - finds her entire world thrown around a bend as the truth about her roots are revealed in light of her mother's recent passing.Not long after moving into the gloomy Kane Mansion, she finds herself swept into the mysteries swirling around Neptune and all that live there. Too soon, Veronica herself immersed in the scandal, deceit and danger which seems to poison all who come to Neptune.Will she figure out who to trust before it's too late? Or will Jake Kane have to suffer losing another daughter?





	Consequences of Sins Unpaid

**Prologue**

 

_A Father's Love_

 

 

   Keith Mars reread the letter he held in his wrinkled hands. It felt as if so much time had gone past since his eyes first glanced at the thin piece of paper. When he finally felt the information sink in, he sighed, the entire apartment silent as he did.

 

   When he had found out about Lianne's affair, Veronica's 4th birthday had just gone by. Surprisingly (though not so much), it hadn't come from his wife, but from an unlikely informant.

 

   Celeste Kane was a cold and domineering woman compared to Jake Kane's charismatic and friendly nature, and Keith trusted that she had her own reasons for telling him about Lianne and Jake's affair. And when he hadn't believed her, telling her stoically to get out of his house as he had to pick up Veronica from school, she carelessly slipped out a file from her crimson handbag which would probably cost him half a year's worth of wages.

 

   (" _Don't mistake my marriage to Jake to be one of love, Keith. He doesn't love me. He loves her. But even I don't want a scandal like that to leak"_.)

 

   In the file were pictures, text conversations of times to meet up and where - proof that his wife wasn't as faithful as he assumed to be. There were pictures of trysts at the Camelot, taken obviously by a camera (Keith wondered briefly if Celeste stooped so low as to hire Vinnie Van Lowe), though some were surveillance camera print outs from when Lianne and Jake dropped their guards and got too handsy in public places.

 

   And though at that point Keith still found himself in love with Lianne, all he pictured was his little girl. Veronica. So when Celeste blatantly told Keith that she'd pay him a million dollars to leave town with Lianne in tow, he had agreed. He had quit his job as a deputy and convinced Lianne to move, in spite of her reluctance. He had even stupidly thought that he and Lianne could save their marriage - for Veronica's sake, but apparently, Lianne was too selfish to take that incentive. 

 

   4 years after leaving Neptune for supposedly greener pastures, he found himself sat at the dinner table, fighting the urge to become his wife and drink himself into oblivion. _I should really get used to saying ex-wife,_ Keith thought to himself wryly.

 

   A couple months ago, after finding Lianne passed out drunk on the sofa, they'd had an argument whilst Veronica had slept over at a friend's house. Since leaving Neptune ( _and Jake_ , Keith thought) whilst he had found himself falling out of love with Lianne, Lianne had found herself in despair and took alcohol as her vice. She started off with a couple shots a day to keep her buzzed and numb, before it turned into her not being able to survive a day without a couple of bottles each day. Keith let it go at first, despite the chunk of money it took out of their bank account, but the night the remnants of their relationship blew up, Lianne had drank herself into passing out and left Veronica stranded at soccer practice.

 

   He'd come home with ire burning in his eyes, and he hadn't hidden that fact from her. That night had been a real eye opener, and as well as agreeing on a divorce, Lianne had revealed that her affair with Jake hadn't just been going on for a couple months before they'd left Neptune, but for longer than Veronica's short life.

 

   Lianne, of course, didn't realise that could mean for them. For him, or most importantly Veronica.

 

   Lianne had left town soon after the divorce was finalised, skedaddling with enough booze to keep her numb and money to stock her supply, as well as a couple changes of clothing. Veronica, smart girl that she was, knew not to ask about her mother's disappearance in her life. She just tried to smile and laugh as well as tried to make him smile and laugh, too.

 

   At 8 years old, Veronica already exhibited more character, wit and endurance than he could've ever wished for. She tried her hardest to take care of her old man, and Keith humoured that she could feel how much despair he felt. She'd toothily ask him how to cook, asked him for very little, and tried her hardest to make him happy.

 

   And that's why the letter he held, a stark white against his tanned skin (a result from the Californian heat he suffered through), broke his heart.

 

   After realising the ramifications of Lianne's confession about the longevity of her affair with Jake, he had waited till the divorce had been finalised and for Lianne to inevitably leave to order a paternity test. The test had arrived quickly, and it was an easy test to administer. He'd lied to Veronica saying that it was to see if she was ill (he had been shaking as he swabbed her mouth with the cotton bud, terrified, but he wouldn't dare show it to her), a fact he knew that if she were older, she'd easily be able to look through the lie.

 

   The wait had been torturous, not knowing if she were his or not. He distracted himself with his PI work (a surprisingly good pay with frequent clients), he distracted himself with caring for the vibrant and vivacious 8 year old girl he now dedicated his life to, he tried to distract himself from the idea that there was a chance that every time when she'd call him "daddy" was a lie.

 

   When the paternity test results arrived, he put off opening the results letter for a week.

 

   That day though, only a couple hours before, Veronica had done something so him, something _so-not-Jake-Kane_ , that a flutter in his heart reminded him that as well as the fact that Veronica could be a Kane, that there was also the chance that she could be a Mars.

 

   All that hope evaporated when he read the contents of the letter. In so many words, the black printed letters told him that Veronica wasn't his. It broke his heart.

 

   (" _Dad, I'm sorry that I punched Timothy, but he deserved it!"_

 

_"Really now?"_

 

_"Yes! I swear! He told Fran that she was ugly and stupid and fat, and I couldn't just let him get away with it! It's like what you do at the office - I did what I thought was right"_.)

 

   Almost stumbling as he got out of the comfy chair he favoured, Keith mused how long he had been sat there, staring at the letter in the silence of the living room as only the tick-tocks of the clock broke the silence. It was 11:36pm, and Veronica was fast asleep, but she was a light sleeper. He kept that fact in mind as he tiptoed towards her room, the wooden door was already opened a crack, and a small lamp illuminating her darkened room.

 

   He spied Veronica in the small single bed, wrapped up in pink princess sheets as her head lay on a similarly pink pillow. Her face was lax, a peaceful and content expression on it, and her long blonde tresses in a knotted mess around her on the pillow. He sat himself down at the foot of her bed, and he let a tear drop from his eyes as he watched her sleep.

 

   That night he promised to himself, to Veronica ( _hell, to the world,_ he declared fiercely in his thoughts), that Veronica was still his daughter no matter what. That in spite of blood and DNA and Lianne's transgressions, he didn't care, because he loved Veronica too much to just let her be claimed another man's daughter. He had watched her grow, watched her stumble her first steps, patched her scabbed knees and held her as she cried.

 

   Damn blood. Damn Lianne - Veronica was his, and he'd do everything in his power to protect her, no matter the fact she wasn't his daughter by blood, she was his daughter.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Okay! So here's my first ever attempt at a VM fanfic, and I'd love to hear any criticism! I know slightly where I'm going to take this fanfic, and I've got a couple chapters written up and a plan I'm trying to adhere to. I'd love to read any reviews! Tell me if this fic is worth writing, haha!


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